The Fire Demon and the Pineapple
by MeteorLeopard
Summary: Tatsuki meets Renji while she's beating up some thugs who just don't get the message and Renji complains about a black eye. Matsumoto gets involved and creative; trouble follows! Ichigo is going to have issues... RenTatsu.  Hints at other pairings.
1. The Fire Demon meets the Red Pineapple

Hello all you sparkling individuals! (Sorry for the hyperactive greeting but I have just hit a sugar and caffeine high because I had chocolate and coffee at the same time!) This is a three-part Rentatsu story with a short omake at the end of each part. This is not my Falling for you chapter story that I have been promising you guys and I'm super, super sorry! I'm seriously stuck and hope with some help from my partner Honeybadger that I will be unstuck and done soon! In the meantime, you can read this to keep you busy. I will post them very shortly after each other and maybe by next week I will have another chapter added to my The View story. Alright, so this story starts out a little bit serious and then gets more lighthearted and fun so stick with it please. Sorry for the long ramble, enjoy!

Lots Love

SugarFox

Title: The Fire Demon Meets the Red Pineapple

Author: MeteorLeopard (SugarFox)

Tatsuki wiped a weary hand across her face before taking a long swig from her water bottle, feeling it wake up her senses. She was glad that training was done for the day, and she packed up her stuff before leaving the gym. She had beaten all the guys in her class at today's session, as usual, and she knew a couple of them were extremely sour about it. Hello, this was a modern world, and girls can do anything guys can do! She knew she had to watch her back. They would come and challenge her at the most annoying times as they always did. Like when she was annoyed, tired or in a hurry. She contemplated letting them win, just so they would stop challenging her, but her pride crushed that stupid idea in a split-second. She would just have to keep whipping their sorry asses until they got the picture. She was better than they were. That's it. Period. They wouldn't like it, and it would take a while to sink in, but Tatsuki was going to have great fun beating into their system. What better way to practice than in real life situations?

She stalked past the Kurosaki clinic and made her way to her house, wondering how long it was going to be until they attacked again. She would give them about another two minutes. She heard some footsteps behind her and she paused. Right on cue. You know, it really wasn't a surprise attack when she knew they were coming. There were four of them, they stalked forward, gaining on her but she didn't run. Arisawa Tatsuki does not run and hide. She clenched her fists before she spoke. "You really are thick headed aren't you, will you never learn? You cannot beat me, and it is the coward's way to attack four on one. I suppose it doesn't matter if I'm going to beat you all anyway." Her tone was quiet and menacing, the one guy looked clearly outraged while his friends just looked scared.

They had heard about this girl, the fighting machine. Some had nicknamed her the fire demon, because if you got her bad side you would rather be in the flames of hell than feel her wrath. Tatsuki thought it was rather ironic since her friends normally described her as a friendly and nice person. "Well, are you coming or not?" The enraged leader lumbered towards her like an aggravated rhinoceros. She grinned her scary, almost manic like grin from under her glinting eyes. Game on!

Renji was just sitting on top of the Kurosaki clinic supposedly just because he felt like it, but that was a lie. Ichigo had to go to Soul Society and he had asked Renji to keep an eye on his sisters while he was gone. Although they were at each other's throats all time, Ichigo was still a very good friend to him so he obliged after a vicious verbal battle. That was just the way they worked things out between the two of them. Yelling, cursing and threatening. Renji knew he could always rely on Ichigo and vice versa, thus his current predicament watching Yuzu while she stitched up some poor sucker who fell off his bicycle. Luckily for him, Karin had gone to play soccer so Hitsugaya taicho was watching her. He personally thought Ichigo was a little paranoid but he wasn't going to tell him that or he would probably have to feel his hollowfication, and it wasn't fun.

He looked around and spotted a girl walking along the sidewalk slowly, her head raised as if she was expecting something. He recognized her; she was one of Ichigo's friends. She was very pretty, he decided muttering to himself. Suddenly she stopped, he was about to ask if she was all right when he remembered that she wouldn't be able to see him anyway. Oh, the annoyance of being invisible!

His thoughts started to drift again before he noticed there was a bunch of brutes making their way towards the girl while she just stood there. He wanted to yell at her to run, but it would be pointless. He could do the hokey pokey dance and no one would notice! Why wasn't she running away when they were clearly going to attack her? His heart leapt in his chest as they all stopped, and he was weighing up the pros and cons of intervening when the biggest guy charged towards her. The girl raised her head and Renji saw her grin, the same kind of manic grin he got when someone was about to get their asses whipped.

She easily dodged him, tripped him and sent him crashing to the ground. The other three were reluctant to attack after their leader's easy defeat and backed away. Renji jumped off the roof to get a closer look and had to stifle a laugh. The small petite girl had put her foot on the back of the leader's head pushing it into the ground yelling at him to back the hell off or she wouldn't go so easy on him next time. She was a little preoccupied with him so she didn't notice that one of the others had pulled something out of his pocket before charging at her. The object glinted in the setting sunlight as he brought it down towards her. She realized he was coming and narrowly dodged the blade but not before it had left a huge gash on her left arm. Renji saw red, and was trying to restrain himself from unsheathing Zabimaru and showing these fools what a real blade looked like, but he wasn't fast enough.

Tatsuki was seeing red, literally and figuratively. The blood from her wound was seeping into her white shirt and her she was fuming. "Alright, now you asked for it!" She yelled at the guy who suddenly decided it was better to keep attacking than retreat. She easily dodged the next strike; she stepped easily to the side and brought her elbow down on his neck knocking him unconscious and stealing his weapon. The other two backed away as another one of their friends fell before they both charged. Tatsuki saw them coming and swung round dealing a swift punch to the one's nose, hearing it crack before kicking the second one in the stomach and winding him. She stood with her fists clenched over the blade looking at the fallen guys, wondering if they were going to get up again.

She was starting to feel slightly queasy from the blood loss, the wound was very deep, and she sighed to herself. The leader of the bunch rose up and Tatsuki gave him an evil look, which was super scary paired with the glinting knife. He paused and then fled, leaving his cronies to stumble after him. Tatsuki lifted her hand to her wound and saw the blood stain her fingers. Dammit! How was she going to explain this one to her parents? She dropped the knife in exasperation. They were already asking questions about the numerous bruises she always had and couldn't explain where she got them. She suddenly felt someone behind her, was that idiot back again? She reacted without thinking and spun around dealing the stranger a roundhouse kick to the jaw. He stumbled to the ground from the pure force of her attack before rubbing his jaw and getting up again.

"Wow, you pack quite a punch. Though I am very surprised you can even see me." He shook his head, his red hair waving back and forth. That was when Tatsuki realized that he was dressed in Shinigami robes. She was so relieved when Ichigo had finally come clean with her about that. It really did take a good threat to get him to spill though.

"Sorry about the kick, but you really shouldn't sneak up on a recently injured and attacked girl. I thought you were those idiots coming back for another dose." She told him with a slight smugness after sending them running screaming. He just grinned at her before lifting his hand out towards her.

"Well you sorted them out that's for sure. Abarai Renji." He introduced himself and Tatsuki grasped his outstretched hand.

"Arisawa Tatsuki. You are a Shinigami aren't you? You wear the same robes as Ichigo." Renji just nodded.

"If you know about Ichigo then it explains how you can see me." He mused while staring at her. She really was very cute. Tatsuki wasn't really sure what to say next and her attention was suddenly drawn to her wound. "We should probably get that fixed. It's pretty bad." He told her and before he could say another thing, she started to see stars and everything faded to black.

Renji watched Tatsuki pass out and grabbed her before she could hit the ground. He still couldn't believe she had dealt with all four of those thugs by herself. He was glad that she was all right after the fight even though she was wounded. He didn't know why but when she was injured he started to feel sick. He gathered her small figure up in his arms and made his way to the Kurosaki clinic, glad that Yuzu could see him, or else a random floating body might just set her over the edge.

He marched into the clinic and found Yuzu cleaning up. She looked up when she heard him and Renji laid Tatsuki down on a vacant bed. "Abarai-san! What happened?" Yuzu examined the injured girl and quickly went about fixing her wound with some stitches. Renji watched her work before he told her how she was attacked. Understanding dawning on the younger girl's face. "Again? But Tatsuki-san promised me it wasn't going to happen anymore." Yuzu said softly shaking her head.

"Again? You mean that this isn't the first time?" Renji felt sick again at the thought of her being hurt again. Was this normal? He just met her, he shouldn't get this protective feeling over complete strangers.

"She came in here a couple of weeks ago and was bruised up pretty bad. There are some guys from her training group who keep picking fights with her so they can beat her. She is the best and they hate her for it." Yuzu told him in a small voice.

"Well from what I saw they were pretty sour, she beat them pretty bad. Why doesn't she just tell someone?"

"I begged her to tell someone but she refused, telling me that it wasn't going to happen anymore. Then she stopped coming here so I assumed that it was over, but by the look of some of these bruises she has been attacked again in the last couple of days." Renji was silent at the end of the quiet explanation but he was furious on the inside, ready to hunt those low life scumbags down and pound them to hollow kibble.

"Abarai-san, can you please help her? I know Ichi-nee has told you to watch me but since I started training I can look after myself. Can you please walk Tatsuki-san home every day until Ichi-nee gets back? That way we can decide how to deal with this when she has recovered." Renji nodded at the small honey blonde girl and then his attention was drawn to Tatsuki. He noticed Tatsuki start to open her eyes, groggily examining her strange surroundings, and they widened when she saw him.

Tatsuki smelt the sharp odour of disinfectant, her arm throbbing viciously while she opened her eyes groggily. What happened? She was fine, and then she passed out. Great, isn't that just wonderful. She wondered where she was, sitting up get a better look. She spotted Renji and Yuzu hovering over her and realized that Renji must have brought her to the clinic to fix her arm. She saw it was stitched up and Yuzu was getting ready to bandage it. "Tatsuki- san, are you all right?" The young girl asked her worriedly. Tatsuki grinned and Renji noticed smiling in the background. "I'm fine, thank you Yuzu-chan. It's nothing, just a scratch."

Yuzu's face got very serious and she snapped at Tatsuki, which was unusual. "A scratch doesn't need twelve stitches! I thought you said this stopped!" Tatsuki's grin was sheepish.

"It did. Today." Yuzu wasn't convinced. "Well I have to get home, so thanks Yuzu-chan." She was about to hop out of the bed and stand when she felt woozy again and Yuzu steadied her.

"You aren't going anywhere." Yuzu told her determinedly. "Yuzu-chan, I'm fine and you know I have to get home." Yuzu exchanged a gaze with Tatsuki's pleading eyes and nodded. "Fine then, but Abarai-san will walk you home. Abarai." Yuzu gestured at him and he nodded. Tatsuki was very surprised, and was going to protest but Yuzu's mind was made up, so there really was no point.

Renji helped her up and they slowly made their way to her home. Tatsuki refused to fall or look weak in front of him but for some reason she felt very safe when he was around. That wasn't normal right? The last thing she wanted was to look like a complete ditz in front of him, because he was rather good looking. You know, in a badass tattooed kind of way. Fine, so he was very hot.

He walked her all the way home making random chitchat about nothing in particular. They exchanged a good laugh over the brutes that practically ran screaming and they teased one another about who was scarier. She had sheepishly told him about the fire demon nickname and they had a good laugh at her expense. When they got to the front door, she turned towards him and smiled. "Thanks for all the help, and sorry about that." She gestured towards the huge blue mark forming on the left side of his face. Renji just nodded and grinned back. "It was nothing, and I have had way worse."

"Was that you questioning the power behind my attacks? I should give you another one!" She laughed at him when he pretended to shield his face.

"See ya around." Tatsuki just nodded at his farewell and grinned before closing the door behind his retreating figure. She sighed in relief letting all her carefully hidden feelings flow out. What was wrong with her? She was flirting with him! _Dammit Tatsuki! Get a hold of yourself! Renji is just like any other guy, think Ichigo. Um yuk, Renji was way hotter than Ichigo_, she day dreamed on. Dammit, there her hormones went haywire again.

Omake:

Tatsuki stalked across the room and decked an idiot across the face. The poor sucker was the one who had stabbed her in the attack scene. "You stupid idiot! Was it necessary to stab so hard? Now Inoue doesn't come in until the next chapter and I'm a bleeding mess! I should smash your sad little face in!"

"Oi Tatsuki, give the guy a break! He is just doing his job." Renji walked into the room and tuned her to calm down. Tatsuki scowled at him not very pleased but let the poor sucker go anyway.

"Fine then. So Renji, I thought you were going to teach me the Hokey Pokey dance." She asked him with a teasing grin. Renji just shook his head and mentally cursed the stupid scriptwriters. Badass Shinigami do not do the Hokey Pokey. Ever. Period. "Ask Ikkaku to teach you."

Then Ichigo walked in with Zangetsu already drawn. "Renji, what is this I hear about you being scared of my hollowfication?" He was ready to tease Renji about it but didn't get that far.

"Baka, I am not. The script just says I am! Besides the scariest thing about your stupid hollow thing is the voice. You ever heard of throat lozenges?" Renji told him with a wave of his hand and a bored tone. Tatsuki giggled and Ichigo shot an evil look to where she was attempting to clean the blood out of her shirt.

"What? This is my favourite shirt."

Renji and Ichigo just shook their heads in unison. Some people's children.

First chapter all done! Hope you liked it! It was my first time writing an omake so if you have any suggestions or advice on better ways to do it please drop me a line. I welcome any comments or suggestion too! So let me know and pretty please review! I really love getting them and will reply as soon as I get a minute! Part 2 is going up soon so keep an eye out for it. It's titled, The Tripping Damsel's Options. Any guesses as to what is going to happen? I can see your eyebrow twitching… Have a go and drop me line! It will be fun to read all your ideas. Anyways… Got to love and leave you guys and do my homework, so sad.

Toodles!

SugarFox


	2. The Tripping Damsel's Options

Alright! I'm back! Did you miss me? Probably not, anyway! So this is part 2! Whoop-di-doo! Hope you have fun reading it, it has a little bit more humor in it that the first part and a lot of progress under the Renji x Tatsuki side of things. I hope you think it's very cute!

Lots Love

SugarFox

The Tripping Damsel's Options

Renji was sitting on a random bench in the local park. It was pretty quiet, being a Friday and only had the odd old lady walking her poodle. He was on duty and was supposed to swop off with Ikkaku in the next hour so that he could walk Tatsuki home from school. Normally he would be annoyed at the extra workload, but Tatsuki was funny, smart, and really pretty all rolled into one. This whole thing was the perfect excuse to spend time with her. Besides, it didn't really matter what Yuzu said, because Tatsuki could definitely take care of herself, she was very clear on that yesterday. His poor jaw was still sore and his eye still blue from that vicious kick.

Ikkaku and Yumichika suddenly appeared, and if Renji were as bad as Ichigo with reatsiu sensing, then he probably would have jumped out of his skin. Renji slowly got up off the bench getting ready to leave, but his friends had other ideas. "Renji! Nice shiner you got there. Are the rumors true?" Ikkaku half yelled at Renji while Yumichika came closer to inspect his black eye.

"Might I say that really is the most hideous black eye, it really doesn't suit your complexion." Renji just ignored the two knowing that if he answered it would just get worse. "Now, now Ikkaku, you know that rumors are not very beautiful at all and you shouldn't believe them." Yumichika added silkily, Renji wondering where he was going with his whole beauty thing again. "Though, it isn't a rumor if it comes straight from the horse's mouth, so Abarai how did you manage to achieve that monstrosity?" Yumichika's eyes glinted cheekily and Renji could already see him gossiping about it at the Shinigami Women's Association meeting. Renji weighed up the pros and cons of telling them when he decided to give the barest of details. "I got kicked in the face." He grumbled while the others smirked at him.

"By who?" Ikkaku asked out right and Renji wondered if he did the right thing by admitting he was kicked in the first place. He did weigh up the pros and cons, but maybe his stupid mind scale was broken. He decided to keep it short and sweet.

"One of Ichigo's friends." There, they can't question that he thought smugly. Boy was he wrong.

"Who?" Yumichika inserted, they were having way too much fun at his expense.

"Just someone, it doesn't matter so just back off!" Renji snapped at him, deciding to take his leave before they asked any more questions. Once he flash stepped off he could hear them cracking themselves and he had a feeling that they knew exactly what happened to his eye. Damn that stupid Matsumoto for informing the entire Karakura town of his black eye!

Tatsuki was walking out of the school, done with training for the day and she had a huge smug smile on her face. She had been moved out of the second class right into the top class because of her abilities. She was now in the top five fighters, with the others all being guys, this was a brilliant achievement and she couldn't wait to train with her new Sensei next week! She wandered out the gate and was surprised to see Renji waiting outside. He must be in a gigai since all the girls in the vicinity were giggling and pointing at him with cute little teenage blushes. There seemed to be a girl attempting to talk to him, with little response, as he just nodded here and there. When he spotted her, he grinned and the girl got the message, stalking away with a scowl. "Hey Renji, what are you doing here?" Tatsuki asked him whilst returning the grin, smugly watching the girl leave. Wait, was she getting territorial? No way! She was not!

"Off duty, had nothing to do, so I decided I might as well walk you home." Renji shrugged at her and they started making their way towards her house. He came to walk her home, which wasn't unusual right? Friends did do that right. Truth be told she didn't really know.

"So you are a Shinigami." She mused glancing at him. "What exactly does that entail? I know what Ichigo does, but we all know that Ichigo isn't a proper Shinigami, just a power source for Soul Society."

"I suppose you could say that. Ichigo is unique since he didn't acquire his powers like we normally do. As Shinigami, it is our job to send the wandering souls to Soul Society and kill the hollow monsters."

"So you are like an already dead undertaker that fights monsters, what a depressing job." She teased him.

"Not quite, since an undertaker in a stuffy suit wouldn't know a hollow from a pineapple." Tatsuki laughed at this comment thinking that it rather suited his hairstyle.

"What about training and stuff? Surely you have different classes and stuff." Tatsuki asked him curiously. "Urahara said that Ichigo was as strong as a Captain. What does that mean?"

Renji explained all the classes to her, and how the 13 protection squads worked.

"Whoa, so it's pretty complicated. Where do you fit into all of this?"

"It's not that complicated." Renji laughed at her but didn't answer her question.

"You didn't answer my question." She remarked and he just smirked.

"You are quite the attentive individual. I am a fukutaicho to the 6th squad, under Rukia's brother Kuchiki taicho."

"That's awesome, so you are super strong! I want to be like that one day! Oh guess what?" She didn't really give him time to guess before answering. "I got moved up to the top class! Now I am training with the four top guys in the school. Can't wait until next week! Apparently the Sensei is brutal."

Renji just grinned and congratulated her, glad that Ichigo had spoken to her previous Sensei about how she was too good for that class. "Yup, I totally whipped their sorry asses!"

"I see." Renji remarked looking at her bemused.

"What? Don't you believe me? I could totally kick your ass too, don't you remember who gave you that black eye in the first place."

Suddenly out the corner of his eye, he spotted those same brutes from yesterday. They both paused as the ruffians came closer arguing amongst to themselves. The atmosphere was suddenly tense and Renji moved slightly in front of Tatsuki, so that if they attacked again he would mutilate them into oblivion before they even attempted anything. He felt that protective feeling swell up again and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not. The brutes suddenly spotted him and braked awkwardly before backing up. Yes, he looked pretty scary with his tattoos, red hair and matching menacing scowl. The leader stuttered something and the bunch ran off, he could swear he heard the one whimpering as he fled.

Tatsuki had to hold back giggles and Renji gave her a strange look before teasing her. "You see, now you owe me for rescuing you like a damsel in distress, so the least you can do is get coffee with me." He remarked smugly, Tatsuki looked at him in astonishment. Renji just laughed at her, and that's when she sneakily tripped him up, sending him flying to the ground. Only because his speed and reaction isn't that great in his gigai.

"You were saying? I thought you were an all powerful fukutaicho. You just got taken out by the damsel, stick that in your cereal, and eat it." She was snickered at him as he attempted to dust himself off.

"Arrrgh! Now I have another bruise to explain to everyone!" Renji grumbled while Tatsuki just grinned mischievously.

"Did you enjoy your trip?"

She was in a fit of giggles and very clearly not paying attention, so Renji grabbed her heel, tripping her so that she fell on top of him. That was not what he had bargained for and he exhaled a quick 'oof!' when she landed in his lap. "Did you enjoy yours?" He smirked at her and she blushed as she double up laughing and attempted to untangle herself, to get off him.

"Now I rescued you for the second time so you owe me some dinner." Renji told her as he got up and helped her up as well.

"Rescued me? You were the reason I fell in the first place! We can stick to coffee." She teased him and Renji felt his stomach flip, she said she would get coffee with him! Booyah! Now we are getting somewhere!

"Ok so let's go get my daily dose of caffeine." He said nudging her in the direction of the nearest coffee shop just across the road. Tatsuki resisted the nudge and pushed him back the way they were going.

"Sorry my dear coffee-holic, but can't now." She told him jokingly and he grinned at the nickname.

"Why not?" He was so disappointed but he tried not to let it show as he looked at the petite girl beside him.

"I have to go to training now." She explained to him, feeling slightly bad.

"You just left training!" Renji protested. Was training the only thing she did? Really now!

"Yes, but I had Orihime come over last night to fix my wound because it was really sore." Tatsuki began to explain.

"If it is healed then why are you still wearing the bandage?" Renji queried having somewhat of a blonde moment.

"I wonder about you sometimes Renji, because if I arrived at school today with no wound those idiots would get suspicious."

Tatsuki cleared up his query and he just nodded. "Go on, what does this have to do with training?"

"Would you let me finish?" She snapped at him and he gave her a sheepish look. "So Orihime said that Yourichi agreed to train me and we are starting today. That's why I can't do it today, but I can do it tomorrow?" Renji nodded at her explanation, this could really work to his advantage he thought with a mischievous grin and started to plot his major scheme.

"Well, if you have to put your training over rewarding the very person who has saved your life countless times, then you only have two options." Renji told her in a cheeky, teasing tone, his mind plotting.

Tatsuki had her disbelieving look in place again but decided to play along. "Countless times? I do believe you only saved me twice and one of the two incidences it was your fault." She reasoned with him.

"Fine then, but you still owe me for the black eye, causing me lots of humiliation and for tripping me and giving me another bruising." Renji counter attacked. Tatsuki was grinning; this was the most fun she had had since she beat up those idiots yesterday.

"I can't win in an argument with you can I?" She shook her head at his amusing efforts.

"You probably could, but I'm hoping that you are just going to listen to my two options and agree to the best one with minimal resistance." He grinned, his charming, teasing grin and she sighed lifting her hands in defeat.

"Alright then! Please tell me your two options my brave rescuer!" she gave in with a joking almost sarcastic tone and he was not amused.

"I don't like your tone of voice young lady." He told her in a serious tone before grinning again.

"Are you going to tell me or not!" She snapped exasperated at the red haired Shinigami who was having way too much fun at her expense.

"Ok fine then, no need to go all fire demon on your rescuer!" Renji threw up his hands and then went on before she could chip in again. "Option one for repaying of your noble rescuer." Tatsuki snorted at the noble he added in but allowed him to continue. "You have to give me your soul."

"Wait what?" She almost freaked out getting ready to kick him in the gut.

" Don't interrupt! That's just the non-option, there is no way you could give me your soul so you will just have to take option two." Renji grinned at her shocked expression while she wondered about option two.

"Which is?" She was very worried about this one since if it was a horrible option she would just have to compromise.

"Option two is that you have to have dinner with me tomorrow night and no excuses about training." Renji chuckled; his plan was coming together perfectly! Just in time too, since her house was just another block away.

Tatsuki just laughed at option two and pretended to weigh up the options between living without a soul and giving up her Saturday night.

"If I give you my soul can I get weekends off?" She teased him and he was dumbfounded. He didn't seriously think she would continue to argue with him.

"If you are good. – No, seriously Tatsuki, you are hurting my feeling by not saying yes to dinner, just now I am going to think you don't like me or something." He told her with an almost puppy dog look on his face.

"Quite contrary to your statement I like you very much, and would love to thank my noble rescuer by joining you for dinner tomorrow night." She told him with a cheeky grin.

"I sense an almost patronizing tone in your voice, but since you seem to have agreed to go with me, I will overlook it for your sake." Renji joked again, this was where his taicho's snob speak came in handy, as they reached her front door.

"How very generous of you, so I will meet you at that restaurant down the street at seven pm sharp tomorrow evening, okay?"

"Got it, until then goodbye my damsel, don't break a nail."

"Yeah, yeah." She closed the door behind him and had to hold in her shrieks of excitement. She had a date with Renji! Eeeeekkkkkkk! She had to phone Orihime now!

Renji made his way to Urahara's with a huge grin on his face. He had a date with Tatsuki, and he couldn't wait! However, right now he was going to visit Inoue and get her to fix his eye. He really was tired of looking like a druggie.

Omake:

Renji was sitting in his seat inspecting his black eye, when Ikkaku strolled in. "Well Renji, that black eye looks horrible! You should get Inoue to fix it for you." Renji scowled at him.

"It's just stage makeup you freak show! My makeup artist is just horrible! I look like a druggie!" Renji whined looking over his shoulder to make sure the spoken of individual wasn't around.

"Who is your makeup artist?" Ikkaku asked not really caring, but curious who would be so horrible in the first place.

"Kenpachi threatened the director with the wrath from the power under his eye patch if he didn't appoint Yachiru as the makeup artist! Now I look like a druggie, an emo and Adam Lambert all mixed into one!"

Ikkaku just cracked up laughing rolling on the floor. "Yachiru! You should have asked Yumichika to do it for you! I'll fetch him for you." He left suddenly and returned with the gay looking man who let out an audible shriek when he saw the makeup.

"What is that? Let me fix it!"

Half an hour later Renji walked back out to practice his lines with Tatsuki. He walked towards her and she looked up from her script frowning suddenly. "Trying something new? Since when do you have feathers stuck to your face?"

Renji dashed to the nearest mirror and yelped when he saw his feathery face, he didn't even have eyebrows! They were just stuck to the skin!

"YUMICHIKA!"

That's part 2 done and dusted. Any comments and suggestions? Does anyone want to guess what happens next? The third and final part will be posted soon so keep an eye out for it! It is also just a little bit longer than the others are and has another omake. Please keep reviewing and giving me absolutely any advice. There will always be room for improvement.

Lots Love

SugarFox


	3. Beauty Pageants and Red Hair Dye

Heyalulu! This the third and final part to the story and the cuteness continues! Renji is quite a charmer and I decided to cut the usual "they like each other but won't tell" nonsense. They like each other and it is very clear in the story, and they become very close very fast so deal with it. Enjoy it and as we all know Matsumoto I causing trouble as usual! Thanks to my little sis (Who is not really little anymore!) for helping me with this chapter by talking complete nonsense! Love ya LiquoriceLynx! Sorry for my usual chattering demeanor! On with the story!

Beauty Pageants, Matsumoto and Red Hair Dye.

Renji made his way towards Inoue's house at a snail's pace. He really wasn't in a hurry at all and was in a fan-freaking-tastic mood thanks to a stunning girl who stole his heart whilst still making him work for hers. He would get it eventually, even if it took a lifetime. Granted he would prefer sooner than later. Her knocked on Inoue's door and was surprised when it was flung open by an excited Matsumoto brandishing a huge chopping knife. "Renji! What are you doing here?" The crazy tenth squad fukutaicho asked and then ushered him in without waiting for an answer. "Orihime, guess who dropped by? It's Renji!"

Renji followed her in and saw two depressed looking people tied up at the table being fed what appeared to be toxic waste. "Matsumoto, why are Kurosaki and Ishida tied up at the table." Renji asked not particularly caring. That's when Inoue bounded into the room. "Ohaio Abarai-san! We are cooking for Kurosaki-kun and Ishida-kun!" That explains the toxic waste, the poor suckers. Inoue was grinning at Renji as if she wanted to hug him and strangle him at the same time. What was that about? Inoue just grinned knowingly and exchanged furtive glances with Matsumoto.

Ishida looked slightly green whilst Kurosaki looked a rather interesting shade of grey similar to one used in Kuchiki taicho's bathroom. There was silence for a second whilst the clock ticked in the background. Suddenly Matsumoto clicked, as if she and Inoue were having a blonde only telepathic conversation, and she jumped up, untying the sickened boys and shoving them out the front door with a quick "Come again!" Like they would, don't fool yourselves ladies.

Matsumoto slammed the door closed and then she and Inoue zoomed in on him like vultures, each grabbing an arm, and pulling him into a vacant chair at the table. He was starting to get a little scared, if he was their new victim then there was going to be trouble. He tried to make sure he had a weapon of some form close by but all he could grab was a spoon. Not very threatening. Then Inoue snatched the spoon away from him and started to interrogate him. Who knew that sweet little girl had it in her.

"You are not here to eat Abarai-san, we need to have a little chat." Phew, not eating worked for Renji. He wouldn't be able to go out with Tatsuki tomorrow if he had food poisoning.

"Ok Inoue-san, what do you want to talk about?" Renji was slightly relieved that she only wanted to chat. "Oh, but before we do that can you please heal this black eye for me? It was the real reason I came over in the first place." Inoue looked like she was weighing up her options, then she and Matsumoto shared one of those telepathic looks again and sighed and started to heal him.

"Arigato Inoue-san, so what did you want to talk about?" Renji asked her while flexing his face quite happy that he didn't have that throbbing pain anymore. Then it was Matsumoto's turn to have a go at him.

"Don't play innocent with us Renji, we know your secret so you might as well tell us all the details or suffer a slow and painful death!" Matsumoto threatened.

"Wait! What now? What did I do?" Renji genuinely didn't know what they would be so vicious about, maybe they discovered all their snacks from last week's party. You know, the ones that that everyone threw into the pot plants.

Then it was Inoue's turn again and she was suddenly seriously in his face. "I like you Abarai-san, but if you hurt Tatsuki, I will use Tsubaki and separate the very bonds of your soul turning you into two halves of not much." Realization dawned after the mention of Tatsuki and he knew that the whole debacle was about her. Matsumoto was also in his face now and the amount of cleavage they were showing wasn't really child friendly.

"I guess you spoke with Tatsuki then." He grinned sheepishly. "For the record Inoue-san, I have no intention of hurting Tatsuki." After he told them, they began to squeal and 'awww' so he decided to take his leave. He was switching off with Ikkaku in a few hours and would love to get something to eat before he had to work again. It was really funny that whenever he wasn't concentrating he would catch himself grinning. He strolled into Urahara's with a goofy grin plastered on his face and Yourichi stretched and rose from the basket in the corner.

"So Matsumoto was right, you do look like the cat that got the cream. When you and Tatsuki going out?" The cat woman yawned and curled up again. Then Ichigo burst into the room pulling his sword off his back in attempt to attack Renji.

"What is this I hear of you dating Tatsuki, I'm going to kill you!"

WHACK!

Renji looked up gratefully at his friend Rukia, who just knocked out one of the strongest Shinigami around with nothing but Urahara's now mutilated fan.

"Kuchiki-san! That was my favourite fan! I only used it when it was Flag Day in Arabia!" Rukia ignored Urahara and his little whine.

"Thanks Rukia, that was a close one." Renji told her and then decided it was best to take his leave before Ichigo recovered from his not –so-mild concussion.

"No problem. So tell me! Give me details!" Rukia whined at him. "I'm your best friend it's a crime not to tell me!" Renji just shook his head and left while Rukia tossed the rest of the disfigured fan after him, accidently hitting Yourichi, and starting a catfight that would hopefully keep everyone out of his business. He could wish right?

Tatsuki had woken up bright and early this Saturday morning even though most students slept in on weekends. She had already gone for a morning jog, trained, and had breakfast. She was hoping to relax for the rest of the day before her date with Renji tonight. Whenever she thought of him, she had to try hard not to grin like a demented freak. She really liked him and wouldn't mind getting to know him a lot better. She had decided to wear a cute but casual outfit tonight, and since he had only seen her in her training or school clothes, he was bound to be surprised. Therefore, with her outfit decided on and a day of relaxation ahead she thought she had a brilliant plan. At least she used to have a brilliant plan, until Matsumoto showed up. Tatsuki could almost kick herself for not seeing this coming. When that woman knocked on her door she should have left it unopened and hid, trembling in fear, under her bed. But no, that blatant opportunity of self humiliation would just be too good to pass up! Why did she do this to herself? If she had known this was going to happen she would have run, screaming, even though Arisawa Tatsuki does not run or scream! She felt like banging her head against the nearest wall but she didn't have the energy to walk there.

The truth was, it had started out quite innocent in fact. She had opened the door, invited the exuberant Shinigami in, and even offered her some tea! Sadly, it all went downhill from there once she produced a small bottle of liquid, toxic, and scary looking. It turned out to be hair dye, Ravishing Red by Clairol. Ravishing Red my ass! Now if I ever went to Spain to do bull fighting I wouldn't even need the flag! Olé!

Matsumoto had fled after the entire debacle to inform Renji that Tatsuki wouldn't be able to make it to the dinner tonight and she was so sorry maybe another time. Tatsuki wanted to cry, hit something, and strangle the strawberry blonde all at the same time. Her hair was ruined! Matsumoto had come back with the solution to fix it but it was too late. She had to meet Renji in ten minutes and there was no way she would be done by then anyway, so she had sent Matsumoto off to apologize and make up some excuse for her while she wallowed at home thinking about head decapitation and hanging certain people up by their toes. Finally, the whole week caught up with her, the thugs, the training, and now her ruined hair and missed date, she just cried. It was lucky that her parents were away on business or the sight of their daughter's tears would give them a fright. She hadn't cried since she was ten, but now the tears silently ran down her exhausted face.

Renji was listening intently to Matsumoto's explanation on why Tatsuki couldn't come tonight. He was not impressed. As if he was going to believe that Tatsuki had suddenly left for America, because she was entered in the 'I am Gorgeous' beauty pageant. Of all things, of all the lies that were perfectly viable, you chose that one. Really now Matsumoto really now?

Renji scowled at Matsumoto and she gave him a sheepish grin. "Alright then Renji, so it was my fault. She really wanted to come and I ruined it for her. Now she is sitting at home wishing she was here, and I feel horrible." Renji was hacked off now but he was also worried. What could Matsumoto have done that was so horrible that she wouldn't even leave the house?

"Matsumoto, do me a favour?" Renji asked her hoping that she would just agree to his one request, it was the least she could do after she ruined his plan.

"Yes Renji, I will do anything, just name it." She was rather eager to jump into his affairs and fix the problem, but Renji had other ideas.

"Could you please just go home and stay out of my business with Tatsuki, because I have this feeling that your involvement is just going to make it a lot worse." Renji told her in a frank tone, not really intending on being so straightforward, but at least she had the good grace look ashamed.

"Fine." She muttered and then decided that she would go pick on Karin and Toshirou instead, and she wondered how the girl felt about turquoise hair. Would this woman never learn?

Renji quickly made his way to Tatsuki's house wondering what he would find when he got there. Tatsuki knocked unconscious? Barely breathing? Traumatized? He picked up the pace worried even more, whatever it was; it wasn't going to be pretty.

He got to her front step and rapped on the door almost ready to break it down to see if she was all right. He heard movement inside just on the other side on the door. Suddenly heard her voice call out to him. "Go away, I'm not home."

He just grinned, so typically Tatsuki. "Sure you're not, now open the door Tatsuki. Come on."

"I can't open the door." She said in a depressed tone.

"Why not? Is the lock broken? I can just break the door down if you want?"

"No! I mean I can't open this door because I will probably die of embarrassment!" She yelled from the other side trying to figure out why he didn't take the hint.

"Being clued up on death and its departments I am sure that it is impossible to die of embarrassment. Come on, please open up Tatsuki. Seriously what is so bad?"

"You mean the stupid woman didn't tell you?" She was surprised at that; Matsumoto never missed a chance to spread a good story.

"No she didn't, and she also gave me a really lame excuse instead. So forgive me if I'm a little upset that my date was ruined by an annoying woman with good intentions. So please open up so we can fix the problem. Seriously, it can't be as bad as when Masumoto managed to super glue bows into Kenpachi's hair, and he went on a rampage destroying nearly half of Soul Society. So just open the door." Renji reasoned with her in attempt to coax the door open.

"How do I know that you aren't going to laugh at me?" She asked in a small quiet voice but Renji could hear her defenses breaking.

"Well to be honest, chances are I will probably laugh at you, but we will get over it and one day we will laugh about it together."

Tatsuki was quiet for a second not really knowing what to do. She wanted to open the door but she wasn't sure how things were going to play out. He said he probably would laugh at her but for some reason she trusted him. She was still not entirely sure. "Please Tatsuki, just open the door." Renji said in a soft almost pleading tone. She sighed and then opened the door slowly, half hiding behind it while he came in.

"Fine then."

Renji paused when he got a good look at her hair and gave her one of his very own signature grins and a stifled chuckle. "Well I see why Matsumoto went with the beauty pageant excuse."

"She what?" Tatsuki did a double take and was already planning her revenge on that annoying woman.

"Yes, she said that you couldn't come because you left suddenly for America to enter some or other gorgeous girl beauty pageant. Though I personally feel you would have won the gorgeous side without trouble I didn't take you as the beauty pageant type." He teased her as the both sat down on the couch.

"I'm not, at all. The real reason is this hair." She gestured to the mop of Ravishing Red hair on the top of her head with a defeated tone.

"Well you only have yourself to blame." He told her seriously and she looked like a fish out of water, gasping for breath.

"Wait what! Are you inferring that I intentionally wanted her to dye my hair to match the local fire fighter trucks?" She was getting very annoyed with him and crossed her arms in defense.

"Not at all, but you really shouldn't go along with any of Matsumoto's plans anyway." He just grinned and leaned in running a hand through her red hair. "Now she ruined your beautiful hair."

"No kidding." Tatsuki relaxed at his touch, her insides going warm and fuzzy. She leaned towards him and laid her head on his chest with his arm around her. It was warm and comfortable; it made her forget all her problems.

"So why did you let her dye your hair anyway?" He asked her running his fingers through her hair, loving the feeling of her being so close. Maybe it worked out for the better, though he wasn't going to tell Matsumoto that.

"It wasn't supposed to be the whole head! She said she would put a small streak of red into it, and sadly she over did it because she can't read the instructions over her boobs!" Tatsuki was having a little rant.

"Small streak or not why did you even bother? You have such beautiful hair. Well at least now you match your fire demon nickname." He asked her trying to figure out what possessed her to change it in the first place.

"Well I could tell you but you would just laugh at me." She muttered suddenly studying her fingernails.

"Well alright then if you don't want to tell me that's fine, so how are we going to fix it?" he asked her and she produced a box of midnight black hair dye.

"By fighting fire with fire, or at least more hair colour." She said slightly amused.

"So let's do it. Come along, you can inform me of your silly reason along the way." Renji rose up off the conch and pulled Tatsuki up with him since she was half in his lap anyway. They made their way to the kitchen where he set out a chair for her and began to read the instructions on the box. "Luckily for you, I don't have boobs." He grinned at her and asked again, why she dyed it in the first place.

"Fine, if I told you would you quit bugging me about it?" She said in defeat as Renji started to mix the dye.

"Of course, it isn't like it is serious or anything, I was just wondering." He said before he started to apply the colour to her hair.

"I did it because Matsumoto told me that you would like it. Then she went and ruined it. I just wanted one streak! Now can we please change the subject?" She admitted blushing while he finished the job.

"Alright then, there you go. You can go take a shower and wash it out and you will no longer be a red head, though red heads have the most fun anyway." He grinned and teased her again. Tatsuki went to shower and returned a little while later with a whole head of black hair and one small red streak just below on her neck, underneath where not everyone could see it. She grinned at him and showed him the small piece.

"You fixed it! Thanks Renji!" She flopped on the couch next to him and gave him a hug, snuggling into his chest. Renji just grinned and his heart flipped as it did the first time he saw her, when she beat up those brutes a few days ago. He had this overwhelming feeing growing in the pit of his stomach and that when it hit him like a ton of bricks. He was in love with her. He had never been in love before but this was love, and it felt great.

They sat in silence for a while and Tatsuki was bouncing up and down on the inside. She had fixed hair, a cute red streak, and a guy who was with her because he wanted to be. How many guys that you know would fix your hair for you because you were upset about it? It was there, snuggled into his chest that she realized she was in love with him. She was sure, its love, not rocket science, and it felt so good she thought and snuggled closer.

"So do you like your red streak?" He enquired running his fingers through her hair playing with it while she just sat close to him enjoying the feeling.

"Love it."She told him with absolute certainty. She really wasn't expecting what happened next, but she couldn't deny that it was what she wanted. He picked up her petite figure and pulled her into his lap pulling her closer than ever before.

"What about me? Do you like me?" He asked her staring deep into her large chocolate eyes with a hopeful expression. It was now or never she he might as well take the plunge. He felt a little sick in his stomach, what if she didn't like him back?

She grinned at him and leaned in until she was a mere breath away. "Do you really think I would let my hair be ruined by Matsumoto if I wasn't at least a little crazy over you? No? So the same answer from the streak applies to you." She told him, hoping that his asking her about liking him had something to do with him liking her. She decided that she should probably be honest; she was always a straightforward person.

Renji's face broke out into her favourite grin before running his fingers through her hair bringing her face closer to his. "I do recall that you said you loved it, so it works out perfectly, since I love you too." He whispered in her ear running his lips along her jaw before claiming her lips and kissing her. He had wanted to do that since he first laid eyes on her and when her soft lips met his he couldn't help but think it was well worth the wait. Well, that was before his thoughts disappeared and he could only feel her in his arms.

Tatsuki couldn't believe that she was in Renji's arms, cradled against his strong chest and they kissed for a long time, until they were both out of breath. She ran her fingers along his face tracing his tattoos before settling her head into the space just under his chin.

After that, they just stayed in each other's arms talking softly and kissing occasionally. She asked him why he had left the red streak in without telling her. He just answered that she was his, and it was an ownership mark, sort of a possessive issue and tightened his hold on her.

"You don't own me! She teased him though her actions spoke an entirely different story.

"Speak for yourself Tatsu, you missed our date, which means we have to go with option one."

"No, not my soul! Anything but that!" She told him in mock horror playing along with his joke.

"Well then we will have to go with option three." She raised her eyebrow and he kissed her again. "You will just have to give me your heart instead." She agreed with a grin telling him that she already gave him her heart.

At about one am, she had slowly started to doze on his lap while he ran his fingers up and down her back. Sadly, he had to leave to swop off with Ikkaku, but he laid her gently on the conch covering her up, kissed her gently and she smiled in her sleep.

"Sleep well, my fire demon."

Omake:

The entire room was filled with extremely disgruntled women and Urahara. It was quite a sight to behold since normally these people wouldn't be caught dead in their current condition!

"This is the official meeting of the SMFROH club and Karin is going to start off by informing us on the current problem. Karin." Nanao told the group gesturing to the younger girl who was quite a sight to behold. "What does SMFROH stand for?" Yuzu's quiet voice asked from the corner. "Stop Matsumoto From Ruining Our Hair club." Informed a disgruntled Rukia from her seat.

"So we all know the problem and we have to stop Matsumoto! She is taking this too far! My hair is turquoise! Turquoise I ask you really!" Karin went off on a full blown rant before being interrupted by Rukia.

"You think you have problems? I have to go back to Soul Society and explain to Nii-sama why I have orange hair!" Rukia joined the rant before plopping down next to Yuzu again. "It's like Inoue and I swopped hair colours!" Inoue nodded viciously from the corner he midnight black hair bouncing.

Yuzu looked furious, her small fists clenched. "You think that is bad! My hair is black! I feel like a Goth! But my eyebrows are still blonde! I look like a freak show! I can't host dinner parties with mismatching eyebrows!"

"Well I would choose black over pink any day! No one will take me seriously with pink hair! Let alone my taicho!" Nanao moaned clutching her pink mop that was neatly clipped back.

"Just a question, what is Urahara doing here?" Rukia chipped into the conversation again.

"Jare, Jare, sadly I am a victim as well." He mumbled before removing his hat to reveal a full head of purple hair.

Ikkaku just walked in at that moment and grinned. "Luckily I don't have that problem."

He had to run for his life after that comment.

Cute or not? Loved it? Hated it? Have a suggestion, or even a comment? Let me know! I love hearing from you guys! Keep the reviews coming and the love flowing! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far! I'm actually sad that this story is over; Rentatsu is my favourite couple along with Hitsukarin so if you have any ideas on stories, I could write for them or anyone else let me know and maybe we can collaborate! Anyways, have to love and leave you guys!

SugarFox


End file.
